


and i'll keep you in my heart (so i don't have to let you go)

by As_High_As_Honour



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Different Mentor, Fluff, Gen, Light Angst, Mother-Son Relationship, different first meeting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-14
Updated: 2020-10-14
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:28:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,425
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27011278
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/As_High_As_Honour/pseuds/As_High_As_Honour
Summary: Dick Grayson is 9 years old and the world has ended.It should've ended. It had ended for Dick four months ago when his parents died and left him behind.~~~~Or, Bruce Wayne didn't attend the circus that fateful night and Dick Grayson becomes a cat (not a bat) as a result.
Relationships: Dick Grayson & Selina Kyle
Comments: 5
Kudos: 36





	and i'll keep you in my heart (so i don't have to let you go)

Dick Grayson is 9 years old and the world has ended. 

It should've ended. It had ended for Dick four months ago when his parents died and left him behind. 

Dick sniffles as he walks the mean streets of Gotham. No one spares him a second glance. After all, this is Gotham, there are all kinds of brats like him wandering the streets at night. He's not special. 

He doesn't know what he's doing or where he's going or even where he's sleeping tonight. He just knows that if he had to spend another second in that foster home, he would've broke.

It wasn't bad exactly, but... It wasn't home. Would never be home. Home was the feel of chalk on his hands, the smell of straw from Zitka's cage, the sound of his parents laughing with him. Home was being utterly weightless in the air, where nothing could touch him, not even gravity. 

Dick sniffles again, trying to wipe his eyes free of tears but more keep coming. He's so busy with this that he doesn't even notice the figure who silently lands a few steps in front of him, clad all in black. 

"What's wrong, kitten?" 

Dick jumps, literally jumps into the air. He startles and flails for a moment before muscle memory kicks in. He's able to control it enough so he backflips and lands on the ground in a crouch, quickly straightening to regard the newcomer. 

It's a woman, who stares at him with surprise on her face, most likely due to the move he just pulled off. She quickly gets over this. 

"Hi there," she smiles and Dick feels set at ease by it, even though she's a stranger. She looks kind of cool though, with yellow-tinted goggles on her eyes and wearing some sort of catsuit- Wait.

"Are you Catwoman?" He asks, even though he already knows the answer.

Her smile dims slightly and a crooked smirk takes its place. "I might be," she coyly says and Dick grins because it reminds of the performers at the circus, pretending not to see something that's so obviously there. "Better question is what are you doing out here all alone kitten? It's way too late for a little guy like you to be out." 

Dick looks around and realises she's right. He's been walking for hours. The reason no one's paid him much attention is because no one's out and about _to_ pay him much attention. Gotham is unnervingly quiet right now, the type of quiet that means trouble for the coming day. Dick's not been here long but even he knows that. 

He scrambles for an answer when it's clear the silence has stretched on just that bit too long. "I ran away," he blurts out because he can't think of anything else to say. 

Catwoman purses her lips and Dick panics again.

"Please don't make me go back!" He almost shouts, fearfully. "Not to that foster home! I don't belong there, I don't wanna be there, _please_ don't make me go back!" 

He's breathing heavily now, on the verge of hyperventilating when Catwoman gently and carefully places her hands on his shoulders. Dick settles almost immediately, looking up into those tinted goggles.

"Relax kitten, I'm not gonna make you go back in the system. I've been in it myself and know first hand that it sucks." 

Dick giggles and Catwoman grins. 

"But I can't just leave you wondering the streets by yourself. You could get hurt," she reasons, face looking concerned. 

He starts tearing up again. "But- but I don't have anywhere else to go. I- I don't- I can't- I," he sucks in a breath, "I just wanna go back to the circus. I just wanna go _home_." He finishes, and looks down at his feet. 

"Circus?" He hears Catwoman asks. "Wait. You're that boy from the news, aren't you? Richard Grayson." 

"Dick." The response is automatic. "My name's Dick." 

There's a silence, so he looks up to see Catwoman down at him, thoughtfully. Usually he hates it when strangers do that but right now, it feels nice. It feels warm in a way that he hasn't been in a while. 

He watches Catwoman bite her lip, narrow her eyes, shake her a little, before letting out a small sigh that he thinks is more for show than anything else. She looks around quickly, as if to make sure no one else is around, before leaning down so their eye level. She reaches a hand up and slips the googles from her face so Dick is looking straight into her eyes. 

"I'm Selina," she says, holding her hand out to him. He looks at it for a moment or so before taking it into his own hand. 

"Look," Cat- Selina starts, after she lets his hand go, "I get you don't wanna go back to your foster home you ran away from," Dick sucks in a breath, "And the circus left town a few months ago, so that's out of the question, so..." She trails off.

Dick looks at her again and sees that she's biting her lip again. "Oh what the hell," she mutters under her breath. "Look, I don't normally do this but how about you stay at my place tonight? We'll get you all warmed up and fed, and in the morning, we can work out some place for you to go. How does that sound?" 

He frowns, unsure of what to make of the offer. He knows all about stranger danger and this definitely seems to tick all those boxes. But... He _is_ really cold and hungry right now and she _does_ seem really nice. 

Dick lets out a breath, a thoughtful look on his face. "Just for tonight?" 

"Just for tonight," she promises. 

"Okay then," he says with a decisive nod of his head, missing the way that Selina silently laughs at how adorable that was as she stands up. 

(In the morning, Selina hears of a stolen necklace taking residence in a socialite's home and simply knows she has to take it. She tells Dick to stay in her apartment and is only mildly annoyed when he pops up next to her once she's disabled all the security. He starts telling that stealing is wrong and he doesn't want her to get in trouble but once she explains that she's only stealing it because it was already stolen, and the person who 'owned' it could afford parting with it, he calms down. She expects him to make his way back home. 

Instead, he summersaults down to where the necklace is being displayed - rich people are so extra - gently picks the necklace up and makes his way back to her without so much as making a sound. 

"This is me saying thank you," he tells her as he hands her the item, once they made their getaway. They're back in her apartment, and Dick is showering one of her kittens with affection as another uses him as a climbing frame. 

"Not bad, kitten, she admits, "You have the real makings of a thief." 

His dopey grin fades. "Does that make me bad?" He asks, fearful and frowning. 

"No," she tells him, unknowingly starting herself on the path of having a sidekick, "Just only steal from people who can afford it. Or deserve it. Or if what want to steal is already stolen." She waves a hand to the necklace, currently sitting on her dresser. 

"Oh," he looks thoughtful but just like before it ends with that decisive nod of his, "That's okay then." He turns his attention back to her cats and she shakes her head. She still needs to find somewhere permanent for him to stay. 

_Tomorrow,_ she says to herself, _I'll find somewhere for him tomorrow._

She tells herself this tomorrow, and the day after that, and the day after that, until eventually she forgets to keep saying it.) 

"I've just got one question for you," Selina says, as they make their way to her place. 

"What is it?" He asks, wary. He's not sure where this is going and it scares him a little. 

The smirk she sends his way can only be described as mischievous. "Do you like cats?" 

He bursts out laughing and Selina's smirk turns into a grin. 

"Yeah, but I haven't spend much time around them," he admits, once the laughter dies down. 

"Don't worry kitten," Selina tells him. "I'm sure you'll get used to them." 

Little did they both know how true this would be.

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own DC or any of the characters used in this fic. (You know the drill). 
> 
> This was originally supposed to be a part of a much larger work that I have since lost inspiration for but might come back to one day (no promises though). In the mean time, enjoy! :)


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